Three represent PDCCC at conference

Published 11:10 am Wednesday, August 1, 2012

BY WENDY HARRISON/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
WHarrison@pdc.edu

Paul D. Camp Community College adjunct instructor Ray McDonald, from left, adjunct instructor Mary Ellen Gleason and associate professor Martha Kello review information they learned during the 2nd Annual Chancellor’s Developmental Education Institute this summer. -- SUBMITTED

FRANKLIN—Three Paul D. Camp Community College faculty members were selected to attend the 2nd Annual Chancellor’s Developmental Education Institute this summer.

Ray McDonald of Suffolk, adjunct instructor of math; Martha Kello of Courtland, associate professor of early childhood development and developmental reading; and Mary Ellen Gleason of Carrsville, adjunct instructor of English, participated in the week-long conference at Berry Hill Plantation in South Boston.

“I was thrilled to have this opportunity,” Kello said. “Dr. Hunter Boylan is the nation’s leading authority on developmental education. To have the opportunity to study with him was very exciting.”

The institute was offered by the Virginia Community College System in partnership with the National Center for Developmental Education, and was modeled after the Kellogg Institute.

Boylan is director of the NCDE, a professor of higher education at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., and past director of the Kellogg Institute.

“I felt reinvigorated after the conference,” McDonald said. “I learned some unique informal assessment techniques, but more importantly, I was reminded of why I became an educator.”

The faculty left the institute more informed about assessment techniques and objectives, and discussed issues with faculty from other Virginia community colleges.

“I learned a lot about instructional design, learning objectives and outcomes,” Gleason said. “I also learned a great deal when we collaborated in smaller groups throughout the week.”